Editor's note: This is the second of three articles featuring local cookbooks. Next week, start the New Year with Cuban comfort food from 'Estefan Kitchen' by Gloria and Emilio Estefan. Good riddance 2008; welcome 2009. It's almost New Year's Eve. But high-rolling celebrations on the town may be out of the question due to a falling stock market and tenuous job security. No matter. You can have an equally glittering chef-inspired party that's relatively inexpensive but still affords you the chance to enjoy your friends.

Madrid is not content to rest on its laurels. In the fall of 2008 the city was filled with renovation and building projects to polish its beauty. The city's wide avenues and plazas, statues and fountains are reminiscent of Buenos Aries. But, of course, Spain's capital came first by centuries and, if anything, was the model for Argentina's capital city. Madrid was home to Queen Isabella in 1492 when she underwrote the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World. Centuries before that the Romans were here.

With eels, octopus and squid on the menu, the recently opened Bacalao Tapas & Seafood Grille, 10140 Forest Hill Blvd., promises a true seafood experience with a Barcelona flair. "We are a true seafood place. Everything is fresh. There's nothing frozen here," said executive chef Carlos Ortiz. "We wanted to bring a new fresh seafood restaurant to an area that needed it. We wanted to bring something different to their palate, something they are not accustomed to." He said most of the recipes come from Spain but he does not want people to think it is a regular Spanish restaurant.